17" MacBook Pro Questions

[blairian89]

I am interested in picking up a 17" MacBook Pro (Late 2011). What is a good price range and is it worth it?

I found one on eBay that was refurbished by Apple in December of 2016; new logic board, display, RAM, etc. were all installed. It looks brand new and quite frankly a lot of the internals ARE brand new.

This machine would just be for fun, browsing, and tinkering. I may use it for work as a desktop replacement if it functions well enough. I always wanted one in the past and could not afford it then; now that I can I kind of want to experience one.

$1,399 is the asking price for the one I am looking at and it sounds like it could be decent given the scarcity of the machines at this point in the game. What do y'all think?

 

[keysofanxiety]

No no no no no no! $1400 is ludicrously expensive for a 5 year old laptop anyway. But the 2011 15/17"s have massive documented issues with graphics failing. Avoid them like the plague. The refurb boards fail. New boards fail. Avoid!

For that money you can get a much better computer. A brand-new Mac would be so much quicker with just a dual core CPU, due to the much quicker Flash speeds. Plus the 2nd gen quad-core i7s in the 2011 15/17"s have nowhere near the performance the 2012-onward quads (15" Early 2013 Retina notwithstanding, but they also have GPU failures too).

Overall, it's a poor purchase all round. And $1400 is a joke of an asking price.

 

[blairian89]

No no no no no no! $1400 is ludicrously expensive for a 5 year old laptop anyway. But the 2011 15/17"s have massive documented issues with graphics failing. Avoid them like the plague. The refurb boards fail. New boards fail. Avoid!

For that money you can get a much better computer. A brand-new Mac would be so much quicker with just a dual core CPU, due to the much quicker Flash speeds. Plus the 2nd gen quad-core i7s in the 2011 15/17"s have nowhere near the performance the 2012-onward quads (15" Early 2013 Retina notwithstanding, but they also have GPU failures too).

Overall, it's a poor purchase all round. And $1400 is a joke of an asking price.

I feel like I should clarify and make it clear that I have NOT purchased this device; just getting some informed opinions.

You have several good points there - I had not considered the age (it feels like 2011 was just a few days ago almost) and I did not know that there have been a lot of issues with them...learn something new everyday.

I suppose that for the price I could pick up a brand new MBA (or other) and know it will be a pretty solid machine for years to come.